Category: Loughborough

Set off to the town centre today. Asked around for directions and met a Kiwi who was heading the same way. We chatted about New Zealand, the earthquakes and fault lines and volcanos, evacuation drills – it’s just different reading about it, and then hearing it from a local in real life. It’s exciting to me, I guess. Lifestyle in NZ. It’s a 2 x 12 hours flight from NZ to the UK… Gosh that is crazy. I thought our 13 hours was bad….On my way back I was carrying so many things my arms were breaking. My duvet, tons of things from primark, groceries, pots and pans, slippers, plates and cups and spoons, I was absolutely determined to carry all of them back. I mean I could take the weight of my heavy backpack and run around, surely I would survive this.So I walked and I walked and I walked, and it was terribly terribly heavy and my arms were aching. I stopped twice to shift the plastic bags that were making red welts in my hands (yes, I am so STUBBORN) and then a Spanish guy, George stopped by to help. I said I’d carry it myself, but he offered again and the thought of how LU was still 20 minutes away and me having to stop every 5 minutes was distressing, so I accepted a helping hand!If there’s anything I like most about my exchange, it’s meeting the random people and having small chats and finding out little bits and pieces about them, or their home culture. Like how the cars would stop for you in Spain, especially if you’re carrying many things. Unlike in England, apparently, he angrily cussed at the driver. Something that rings most strongly about their identity would be something that shines from the fleeting conversation, maybe. Like how the boys suck at basketball, apparently.These encounters are fleeting, but I think these are the things I will remember most, or what I would want to remember most. Hence this note in my phone.

Love the bookshops here and how they’d inject their own commentary and recommendations. Like Books Actually. If I had a bookshop, this is a definite must-do.

Midnight walks around the campus. Here, you just need to look up and you see a sky full of stars (on cloudless nights that is) and it is beautiful. Helen and I talked about setting up a tent in the middle of the field so we can do that the whole night.

Laptop charger has officially died. I ordered another fake one from Amazon and it’s just arrived (in 2 days too, that’s pretty fast!) First delivery to my Space (soon to become place-ified)

Motivation to note down my details has dwindled abit, but I love walking in the cold. There is a certain sort of calm, of silence that comes along with the cold, that stimulates my Thought Bank. I scribble them down sometimes, but more often than not I find myself mentally typing them down, and then they vanish, as quickly as they appear.

Snippets of my thoughts:

Arrival at Heathrow Airport –

Had so much fun talking to a girl from Greece (Athens!!) (Mariafe??? and her really…. long….. name…….) and Phillip from Ghana (west of Africa- NOW I REMEMBERRRR) it was really funny and we laughed alot, and we talked about the political/economical system in Greece and Africa and I just feel so HAPPY knowing that, you know, I can actually talk to people and laugh and get teased, in a matter of 2 hours in the airport. I love unexpected moments like this. It is one thing to read about things about a place, and a complete other to hear it from a local’s perspective on what can be done about the political situation. That blood-rushing exhilaration! I want to know SO MANY THINGSSSSSS

What I’ve learnt – corruption, sleeping on the beach and setting up fires in Greece,

I think talking to strangers is easy, because you talk with no history, no judgements, no consequences. And a lifetime of information to share. No strings, none. You exchange perspectives, you share stories, you talk and then you part, and you may never meet again. This person does not know your quirks, your temper, your habits, your perks; they only know the person you were at that point in time, and then you leave.

It is this knowing, I think, that brings out one of the chirpiest sides of me.

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International students night

I guess I find myself trying to step out of my comfort zone to say the least, making the first move though inside I’m all awkward. But I think to myself, I have nothing to lose. Portuguese, Nigerian, Spanish, Malaysian, France, Paris! German, Finnish. So many nationalities, so many people. I wonder what they’re thinking, I wonder if they feel amazed as I do. Knowing that hundreds of nationalities are gathered in this room.